How to get the best exchange rate

Exchange rate: How to get the best deal on your holiday money.

Friday’s results of non-farm payrolls showed that wage inflation is still muted even though job gains in the US in February were higher than predicted.

Non-farm payroll employment is a compiled name for goods, construction and manufacturing companies in the US. It does not include farm workers, private household employees, or non-profit organisation employees.

Average hourly earnings rose by four cents or 0.1 percent, to $26.75 in February which is a slowdown from the 0.3 percent rise in January. This lowered the year-on-year increase in average hourly earnings to 2.6 percent from 2.8 percent in January.

To add to the pressure on the dollar, US President Donald Trump’s imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports has lead to an air of uncertainty regarding US tariff protectionism.

Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto said: “We remain cautious on the outlook for the U.S. dollar and reiterate that tariff action – even on a limited scale – has not reflected positively on the dollar overall in the past.

“Generally speaking, we think that protectionist regimes do not necessarily support a strong domestic currency either.”

The dollar fell as the Dow Jones dropped 150 points. The S&P500 is trading flat whilst the Nasdaq composite increased by 0.3 percent.